New report finds alcohol prices are abysmally low almost everywhere, and alcohol taxes mostly fail to realize their full public health and revenue potential.
Sept. 3, 2026 (New York)—Alcohol use costs 2.6 million lives every year and over 2% of GDP in much of the world. Despite these harms, there is an immense gap between current alcohol tax policies and evidence-based best practices to reduce consumption and raise tax revenues. That’s according to the inaugural Alcohol Tax Scorecard from Economics for Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a partner of the RESET Alcohol initiative led by Vital Strategies.
“The Alcohol Tax Scorecard underscores what public health experts have known for decades—alcohol taxes are almost universally lower than they need to be to reduce the harm,” said Sally Casswell, Chair of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance. “Furthermore, the way things are now, the revenue raised from alcohol taxes comes nowhere close to compensating for the economic and human losses caused by alcohol harms.”
Alcohol use is a major risk factor for many diseases, as well as road crashes, interpersonal violence and suicide. Health taxes on harmful commodities, including alcohol, are a public health “best buy,” serving as a tool for policymakers to improve health by reducing consumption while generating additional revenue.
Key findings
The Alcohol Tax Scorecard lists an overall score for each country that is the average of three components, each representing a key aspect of taxation: alcohol price, excise tax share of price, and tax structure. The 2024 global overall tax score—measured on a five-point scale, where five is the highest possible—is only 1.52 for beer and 1.72 for spirits.
Countries perform best in the tax structure component, with an average of 2.85 points for beer and 3.03 for spirits, out of a maximum of five points. Still, even countries with better-designed tax structures are not pairing them with sufficiently high tax rates to have an impact on consumption, nor do most governments automatically adjust them to keep up with inflation.
Alcohol prices, on the other hand, are extremely low across regions, as indicated by the global average score of only 0.49 points for beer and 0.44 points for spirits. The lowest beer prices at purchasing power parity (PPP) were found in the European region, where the average price of 330 milliliters of the most-sold brand of beer was Int$ PPP 2.06 (international dollars at purchasing power parity), while the lowest spirits prices were found in the region of the Americas, where the average price of 750 milliliters of the most-sold brand of the most-sold type of spirits was Int$ PPP 23.53.
High-income countries have the cheapest alcohol in the world
Alcohol is globally very affordable, especially in high-income countries, which have the lowest price-component scores, cheapest PPP-adjusted prices, and highest affordability of any country income group. Although available data does not allow for the assessment of change in affordability over time—a fourth component in the Alcohol Tax Scorecard’s sibling publication, the Cigarette Tax Scorecard—the percentage of GDP per capita needed to purchase 40 liters of beer and five liters of spirits in high-income countries is very low. Making these products less affordable is necessary to decrease consumption, as well as to delay or even prevent initiation among youth.
Beer taxes lag the most
Findings from the Scorecard suggest that tax policies for beer are particularly ineffective, as many countries are failing to adequately account for alcohol-related harms from different beverage types. Beer is one of the most widely and heavily consumed alcohol products globally, including among younger drinkers and people with fewer resources. These variations in tax policy between beverage types likely reflect industry lobbying dynamics and the differing political influence of beer and spirits, and they weaken the overall impact of the tax.
A critical opportunity for governments
“Ironically, the industry complains about high taxes when the Scorecard reveals a totally different reality,” said Jeff Drope, Research Professor and Director of the Economics for Health research team. “As it stands, the industry is benefiting from low alcohol taxes around the world, while also raising prices of their own accord to maximize profit margins. Uncovering these pricing strategies helps us emphasize the amazing opportunity for every single country to improve their alcohol taxes to seize additional revenues back from industry. With better tax structures and higher rates, countries will reap the benefits of less alcohol consumption and more tax revenues to spend on programs and services to build better societies.”
The Alcohol Tax Scorecard (1st edition) from Economics for Health—a partner in RESET Alcohol, led by Vital Strategies—uses the latest data from the World Health Organization Global Information System on Alcohol and Health, along with relevant macroeconomic inputs to assess alcohol tax performance in 162 countries relative to evidence-based best practices.
The Scorecard can be found at www.EconomicsforHealth.org/research/Alcohol-Tax-Scorecard/
About Economics for Health
Based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Economics for Health conducts and supports economic research to demonstrate the effects of existing policies and chart pathways to new ones that promote healthier populations and more robust and equal economies. Their approach emphasizes collaboration among economists, health experts, key stakeholders, and decision-makers. Fiscal policies are pivotal drivers of everything, from the decision to smoke and consume alcohol, to food choices, and to environmental factors. In its work, Economics for Health supports researchers in low- and middle-income countries to build a local evidence base for effective economic policies like tax that can engender both improved public health and economic prosperity. To find out more, please visit EconomicsforHealth.org or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and BlueSky.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by an equitable and effective public health system. We work with governments, communities and organizations around the world to reimagine public health so that health is supported in all the places we live, work and play. The result is millions of people living longer, healthier lives. To find out more, please visit vitalstrategies.org or follow us on LinkedIn.
About RESET Alcohol
RESET Alcohol is a global initiative that brings together national governments, civil society, researchers, and leaders in public health and alcohol policy to implement the World Health Organization’s SAFER best buys for alcohol policy, with a focus on increasing taxation, and targeted efforts to restrict marketing and availability. The initiative is led by Vital Strategies in collaboration with national partners in countries where RESET operates and global technical partners that include the World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Economics for Health team, Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA), and Movendi International.